Case for Joseph.

[daygo]

Over christmas I got to thinking about Joseph ( stepfather to Jesus ) on seeing christmas is all about Jesus and rightly so I started to feel that Joseph is looked on as a spare part so to speak. Mary is centre stage along with the baby Jesus and felt Joseph was like a supporting role always in the background. However the more I think about it Joseph was just as important as mary, in a different way but just as important, because of the culture and the time they were in the pressure on Joseph was immense, it took a lot of faith for him to do what he did. The strength of character he showed was to me enormous as well as the maturity in outlook, for eg. wanting to divorce mary in secret, and bringing the baby Jesus up in the world, showing him the ropes so to speak and all the other things fathers do for their children, after all the land they were living in was a patriarchal type of society, so the more I think about what Joseph did with Mary and the baby Jesus, I come away thinking very highly of Joseph and would love to have a chat with him when we are all together in heaven.

[mattfivefour]

Good thoughts, bro. Indeed, Joseph must have been a very special man, noble in character and upright in thought.

[Hannah]

Actually Joseph is central to the care and raising of Jesus.

First of all Joseph of course married Mary sparing her of being either stoned to death or living in Sin as a single mother.

Joseph gave Jesus a legitamcy & Jesus was seen as the carpenter's son.

MT 13:53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. 54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?" they asked. 55 "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?"

The people knew Jesus father here as Joseph & Jesus was certainly not ignored by his father but was raised to be a carptener as well. This shows Joseph treated Jesus as his own son. Joseph would have spent hours everyday with Jesus training him up. Joseph would have been involved in Jesus upbringing.

No Joseph wasn't someone who hung around in the background.

Joseph took Jesus to Egypt to protect him from Herod. Joseph along with Mary looked for Jesus when he went missing at age twelve. Mary expressed both she & Joseph had been anxious at his disappearance. Joseph was called his father not step-father.

Joseph did more than just marry Mary. He raised Jesus as his own son. That is evident in the few verses that speak of Joseph.

[myinnuendo999]

Excellent truths daygo

most of the time some of the most humble of people that God uses are the most insignificant to human ways. Joseph was probably one of the most humble of men for God to choose to grant such a privilege of being his step father. Joseph strikes me as a very caring unselfish man. I commend Joseph as he had the huge responsibility to be the head of the household. Such a huge task.

Great truths to ruminate on to really appreciate not only Joseph but all men of God who trust in the Lord as their strength and not in themselves.

[LivnForChrist]

I look forward to meeting him.